Spring-hinge



H. HOWSON.

SPRING HINGE.

(No Model.)

No. 252,770. Patented Jan. 24,1882.

\ will N. PETERS. Pmwulw n lwn Washinglun. D4 C.

wire STATES PATENT. Orrrca.

HENRY HOIVSON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SPRING-HINGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 252,770, dated January 24, 1882.

Application filed December 17, 1881. (No model.) 7

1' 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY HOWSON, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Spring-Hinges, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of spring-hinges in which a pintle passing through the eyes of two leaves is combined with a spiral spring, and my improvement consists in combining aworm and wormwheel with the spring, pintle, and leaves, substantially as described hereinafter, for the purpose of increasing or diminishing the rigidity of the spring.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a face view of a spring-hinge with my improvement; Fig. 2, a section on the line 1 2; Fig. 3, a'sectiou on the line 3 4, Fig. 4, a vertical section of part of the hinge; Fig. 5, a perspective view of the worm, and Fig. 6 a perspective view of the worm-wheel.

A and A are the two leaves of the hinge, the former having eyes a a and the latter eyes I) b, B being the spring, and D the pintle passing through the eyes and through the spring. This well-known style of spring-hinge has been selected for illustrating my invention, which, however, is applicable to other styles of springhiuges in which a spiral spring surrounds the pintle. One end, e, of the wire of which the spring is composed bears against one of the leaves, the other end, f, beingintroduced into an orifice made in the hub of the worm-wheel G, which is free to turn on the pintle D. Into the teeth of the worm-wheel gears a worm, H, which is confined to the leaf A, in thepresent instance, by one of the screws h, which serve to secure the said leaf to a door orlid, or that part of a structure to which the door or lid has to be hinged, the stem of the screw serving as the pin on which the worm-wheel can be turned by a screw-driver applied to the nicks Min the worm, Fig. 5. When the spring has to be rendered more rigid the screw II. should be slightly loosened, so that the worm will be at liberty to be turned in the direction of the arrow, thereby turning the wheel and imparting more iigidity to the spring, after which the screw h'should be turned in order to secure the worm to the leaf. One of the advantages of this combination of a worm and worm-wheel with the spring and pintle of aspring-hinge is the opportunity which it affords of increasing or diminishing the rigidity of the spring to the most minute extent. Should the screw become slightly loose, the jarring of the door to which the hinge is attached might induce the worm to turn. To provide against such an accident the worm may have a small projection, m, for entering any one of a number of indentations made in the leaf in a circle concentric with the screw, so that the worm cannot turn until the screw has been loosened far enough for the projection to be clear of the indentations, when the worm will be free to be turned in either direction. It is not essential, however, that the worm should be pivoted to one of the screws which secure the leaf, for the screw-hole may be at a distance from the point where the worm-wheel has to be situated, and the said wheel may be pivoted to a separate pin on the leaf.

The mode of applying the worm to the leaf will depend in a great measure upon the style of spring-hinge to which my invention is applied; hence I do not desire to restrict myself to the precise construction of parts illustrated and described; but

I claim as my invention- The combination of the pintlc, spring, and leaves of a spring-hinge with a worm and worm-wheel, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' HENRY HOWSON.

Witnesses:

FRANK O. BOWEN, CHARLES HowsoN. 

